


Heart

by Flynne



Series: Garviel Shepard [4]
Category: Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: Garviel Shepard, Gen, Hannah is best mama
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-17
Updated: 2018-06-17
Packaged: 2019-05-24 13:08:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,634
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14955282
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Flynne/pseuds/Flynne
Summary: After more than two decades, Garviel has a family.





	Heart

Garviel stepped out of the shower, toweling his hair dry before gingerly patting the excess water from his right side and arm. Even though the thresher maw’s corrosive acid had caused damage akin to third degree thermal burns, his doctors were pleased at the speed of his recovery. He would be on antibiotics for at least another month, but he saw improvement every time he changed his bandages. He set aside his towel to let himself air dry as he pulled on a pair of sweatpants.

By all rights, Garv should have been recovering at a military rehab center, but Hannah Shepard had intervened. During his hospital stay, she’d offered to adopt him.  _“You and Akil already call each other ‘brother’,”_  she’d said matter-of-factly, settling into the chair beside his bed.  _“We may as well make it official.”_

_Garv stared at her in stunned silence. After a moment he realized his mouth was hanging open, and he shut it with a gulp, shifting his gaze to Akil, who was standing behind her. Akil said nothing, but he gave him an encouraging little smile, unable to hide the hope in his eyes. Garv looked back at Hannah again. “But I’m - I’m twenty-three,” he stammered. “I don’t need…you don’t need to…”_

_“Garv.” She gave him an affectionate look, softening the chiding tone in her voice. “Of course I don’t need to. I want to. I wouldn’t ask if I didn’t mean it. Everyone needs a family, and we would love it if you decided to join ours.”_

_Garv sat there, at a loss for words. True, he’d called Akil his brother, and he’d meant it. But he was an adult, a marine. Adults didn’t get adopted, or at least they didn’t need to be. Even as a boy, he had never really expected to be adopted, and once he’d left the group homes to join the Reds, he’d dismissed it completely as a possibility. Perhaps there had been a pang of regret, but it had been fleeting; the voluntary closing of a door he’d never thought he’d walk through anyway._

_But now that Hannah had asked him, he found that he **did** want to say yes - wanted it so badly that it ached - and he finally found his voice. “Okay.”_

_Hannah beamed at him. “Really? You want to?”_

_He nodded. “Yeah.”_

_Akil stepped forward to put his hand on Garv’s shoulder. “I told you he’d say yes,” he said to Hannah with a grin. He looked down as Garv leaned into his side, fondly tousling his hair. “I’ve been asking Mum for a little brother for ages.”_

_Garv snorted, but tolerated the hair-ruffle. “You’re only a few hours older than me.”_

_“Yes, and I’ll never let you forget it.”_

_“Just so you know, I don’t expect you to change your name if you’d rather not,” Hannah told him. “It won’t make you any less part of the family if you have a different last name.”_

_“…No, I want to,” Garv said after a moment. “My last name is…I dunno, it was just random. Belonged to someone I’ve never even met.” He shrugged awkwardly, feeling suddenly shy around her in a way he hadn’t in years. “If I change it…it’ll mean something.”_

_“I think Garviel Shepard has a nice ring to it.” Hannah’s warm smile took on a mischievous slant as she added, “Besides, I do believe Akil is listed as your father on your next of kin records anyway, yes? We might as well get those done up properly.”_

_Akil laughed, and Garv covered his face with his hand. “I forgot about that,” he mumbled against his palm. His CO had pestered him for months to put **some** sort of contact information on his to-be-notified list if something happened to him, and he’d finally put down Akil’s and Tarik’s names as his next of kin. He was grateful that he had, because having Akil there had made all the difference when he’d awakened after the massacre that had killed forty-nine other marines…including Tarik. He hadn’t forgotten that Akil’s name was listed, but he  **had** neglected to remember that his 18-year-old self had carried an inside joke onto an official form and listed serious, responsible Akil as his father. Somehow the paperwork had been finalized and filed away without anybody questioning it. He wasn’t sure how Hannah had found out about it._

_Hannah chuckled and reached over to give his blanket-covered knee a pat. “We’ll get it sorted. And I have a confession to make - before I asked you, I’d already looked into what it would take to get the paperwork drawn up. We can probably have the whole thing taken care of by the time you’re released.”_

Hannah had been right. The adoption had gone through within a few weeks, and when Garv had been discharged from the hospital, she’d promptly taken a leave of absence to care for Akil’s newly adopted brother. Garv now found himself living with her in a borrowed apartment on Arcturus Station that belonged to her navigator, who was still deployed. It was a relatively small place, all things considered, but the two-bedroom unit still felt big to Garv, who was used to sharing barracks with a squad of marines.

He retrieved his bandage materials from the cabinets beneath the sink. He applied the antibiotic ointment to his wounds with little trouble, but hesitated when it came time to cover the burns. Akil had changed the bandages for him every day or two, but his brother’s leave from his N7 duties had ended the day before, and now he was light-years away.

Garv unwrapped a large non-adherent pad and carefully positioned it against his side, but when he tried to tape it in place, he aborted the movement with a grunt of pain. His still-healing broken ribs and constricted skin from his burns wouldn’t let him turn far enough to reach. He stood leaning against the counter for a moment until the flare of pain faded, then gave a resigned sigh and headed toward the main living area of the apartment.

Hannah was engrossed in a book on the small sofa when he entered the room, seated with her back to the hallway where he’d emerged. He hesitated for a moment before clearing his throat and venturing, “Um…Hannah? I don’t mean to bother you, but…”

She looked around right away when she heard his voice. “Oh! Garv, I’m sorry. We need to change your bandages. I meant to check on you when you were done getting cleaned up but I got caught up in the last few chapters and lost track of time.”

“No, it’s fine,” Garv fumbled, caught off guard by the unexpected apology.

She set aside her book and rose to her feet. “How are you feeling this morning?”

“Pretty good, actually.” Garv returned her smile automatically, but it faded as he said apologetically, “I probably could’ve done it myself if I kept trying, but I knew you were home, so…”

Hannah gave him keen look that Garv wasn’t sure how to interpret, but she smiled and beckoned him with a tilt of her head. “Come on, let’s get those burns covered.”

Garv followed her to the bathroom, standing with his arm held away from his body as she bandaged his side. Even though he stood well over a head taller, she had no difficulty wrapping the large pad around his side and securing it with strips of medical tape.

Hannah worked quickly, giving a little nod of satisfaction when she was done. “There we go.” She patted the counter behind him. “Why don’t you hop up so I can take care of your arm?” She waited until he complied, then gently covered the burns with pads and began wrapping gauze around his arm from wrist to shoulder.

“You know, Garv,” she said conversationally, “You aren’t bothering me when you ask me for help. I’m happy to help you, and not just because I’m your friend.” She flashed him a quick smile as she reached for the tape once again. “You’re officially a Shepard now. I know you’re aware it means that you are Akil’s brother, but don’t forget: it also means that you’re my son.”

Garv’s breath caught and he went utterly still. His expression didn’t change, but he felt shaken, as if a small earthquake had rippled out from the center of his chest.  _You’re my son._  It wasn’t that Garv hadn’t been grateful to Hannah, or that he hadn’t appreciated her kindness and compassion at offering to adopt him, but Akil had been at the center of his recovery: with him in the hospital as he awakened, grieving with him for Tarik, staying at his side for the first days out of the hospital. Garv had been so grateful and so dependent on his brother that somehow it hadn’t sunk in that it meant he had a mother, too.

Hannah kept working with calm efficiency, finishing the bandage with a deft touch. “There, that looks better.” She smiled fondly at his still shell-shocked expression and reached out to briefly cup his cheek in her hand. “You let me know if you need anything else, okay?”

Garv nodded once, more out of reflex than actual comprehension. He sat unmoving for several long minutes after she withdrew.

—–

Garv didn’t have to seek Hannah out for help after that day…she just knew whenever he was ready for her. He always thanked her, just as he’d thanked Akil - but it was four days later that he looked up with a shy little smile when she was finished and quietly said, “Thanks, Mom.”

Hannah’s smile was as bright as he had ever seen it, and she leaned down to kiss his forehead. “You’re welcome, son.”


End file.
